Tenpin



' UNITED STATES Patented February 9, 1904.

HERMANN IIAUssMANN, oE CIIICAcfo, ILLINOIS.

TENPIN- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 751,507, dated. February 9, 1904.

Application filed November 17, 1902. Serial No. 131,622. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may con/cern,.- b Be it known that I, HERMANN HAUssMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tenpins, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specilication.

My invention relates to all classes of pins employed in the game known as bowling7 and usually called tenpins; and the invention has for its primary objects to provide improved means whereby the pin in being set up must be placed directly in the center of the spot, and thus preclude the possibility of a players skill being defeated either through the carelessness or design of the party setting up the pins in placing one or more of the pinsoif center.

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain features of novelty in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts by'which the said objects and certain other objects hereinafter appearing are attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and more par-- ticularly pointed out in the claim.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the tenpin provided with my improvements, and Fig. 2 is a cross-section thereof on the line 2 2, Fig. 1.

The body l of the pin may be of the usual or any suitable construction, ordinarily composed of wood, but provided in its lower end with a socket or recess 2, in which is arranged a centering-point 3, protruding from the lower end of the pin and adapted to enter a cavity 4, which may be formed in the iioor of the alley directly in the center of the pin-spot, so that when the pin is properly spotted or centered it will stand squarely on the alley, as usual; but should it be oif center the point 3 will either hold it an inclination, so that the fact that it is off center will be discernible from the other end of the alley, or it will tip the pin to such a degree of inclination as to destroy its equilibrium and prevent it from standing upright at all until the point is properly centered in one of the cavities 4:. In order, however, that the point 3 may not produce indentations in the balls or otherwise injure them, it is cushioned, so that should it be struck by a ball it will recede or yield without producing any material abrasion. Various constructions might be resorted to for accomplishing this result.

In the example of my invention shown in the drawings the point 3 is provided with a hol- 'low stem 5, in which is seated a spiral spring '6, whoseupper end bears under anut 7 which is screwed into a sleeve 8, threaded in cavity 2 or otherwise secured therein, the sleeve loeing provided with an internal shoulder 9, upon which rests an external shoulder 10 on the stem 5, whereby the downward movement of the point 3 is limited, while its upward or inward movement is permitted to a sufficient extent to enable it to recede when struck by a Y ball, the spring, however, being of suflicient tension to prevent any material amount of compression by the mere weight of the pin. This tension may be regulated by the nut 7.

Having thus described my invention, whatI claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of a tenpin having a socket in the bottom thereof, a sleeve secured in said socket and having a shoulder, a hollow projection protruding from said sleeve and having a shoulder resting on Said first shoulder, a spring bearing in said projection and a nut threaded in said sleeve and bearing against said spring, substantially as set forth.

HERMANN HAUSSMANN. Witnesses:

F. A. HOPKINS, M. B. ALLSTADT. 

